Grammar 以为

Original
Chinese Grammar
 
  Jan 01  •  1057 read 

以 (noun/adj) 为 (noun/adj) : To take (something) as (something)

Grammar 以为 - Cchatty
Recently I was reading a piece called 《年轻一代,越来越重男轻女了》”(Among) The Young Generation, Men Increasingly Considered Superior To Women.” (重男轻女 is a set idiom for “valuing men & belittling women”) As you are probably aware, China has a significantly unbalanced ratio of men to women, but rather than this gives women more bargaining power they are actually being married off even sooner & pressured towards having a family. Anyway, it’s complicated; read that, read Leftover in China, then come back for some grammar!


以 (noun/adj) 为 (noun/adj) : To take (something) as (something)

开车的时候,应该安全主。
kāichē de shíhòu, yīnggāi yǐ ānquán wéi zhǔ.
When driving, you should consider safety to be most important.

This is a classical construction; don’t try to logic it out too much & accept that it’s not really flexible (no 为…以…). ___主 is particularly useful for talking about priorities

现在他找男朋友, 以幽默感为主。
xiànzài tā zhǎo nán péngyǒu, yǐ yōumò gǎn wéi zhǔ.
Right now he’s looking for a boyfriend, (for him) a sense of humor is most important.

Almost elegant really. Which brings us to the piece that is in the text:

…那就物贵!
nà jiù wù yǐ xī wéi guì!
well (people) take scarcity as valuable!

“物以稀为贵” is also an idiom but you see how it’s built now :) As a structure, this isn’t aggressively formal, but it is more written than spoken. Happy Thursday hope you’re well!

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Matthias

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